Good Newwz revolves around two couples — the Batras, and well, the Batras. The first pair is from an upbeat Mumbai society, and consists of an entertainment journalist Deepti (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and Varun (Akshay Kumar), a sales executive. The second pair is based in Chandigarh named homemaker Monika (Kiara Advani) and Honey (Diljit Dosanjh). After several failed attempts at conceiving a child naturally, both couples seek treatment from the same Mumbai-based infertility clinic, owned by Doctor Joshi (Adil Hussain) and his wife (Tisca Chopra).
A mix-up of sperm during the In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) process results in Honey’s sperm getting implanted in Deepti’s womb and Varun’s in Monika. All this is in the trailer but what follows is an organic progression in the narrative, full of situational comedy, resulting in a sumptuous drama. The switch from comedy to drama in the final half-hour of the film transitions smoothly.
Kareena Kapoor Khan makes the most of her meaty part, Having worked with seasoned comedy filmmakers like Priyadarshan and Rajkumar Hirani, one knows she has impeccable comic timing. She delivers a monologue to Varun, criticising him for being a non-supportive husband while she has to bear the brunt of pregnancy alone. Akshay, who probably has the best character graph in the film, is great at comedy, as he has proved time and again over the years. Here, the humour is not close to the Housefull franchise but more on the lines of his character in Jagan Shakti’s space drama Mission Mangal earlier this year. He delivers some skillfully written lines with his trademark straight face. The narrative also allows him to display his range, as he is seen laughing his guts out and crying his eyes out in two different yet key scenes of the film. And needless to say, he does both with immense conviction.
Diljit’s sense of humour is completely tapped into, and his character is the closest to his onscreen persona. But as he has proved with Shaad Ali’s sports biopic Soorma last year, he also possesses a versatility that he can put out if given a chance. In Good Newwz, while he is the one providing most of the cracks, he does not miss a beat when he leads the narrative to a more dramatic tone. Kiara gets the nuances of her character’s Punjabi accent right and fares well in her role of a ditsy wife. But she is given only a couple of fleeting shots to show her potential. Her character remains in shadows most of the time, given the presence of three scene-stealing co-actors.
To say Good Newwz is a smart sociopolitical commentary on class would be a slight exaggeration. But it truly is accurate, evolving into the ideal, representation of our social zeitgeist.